In 2011, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) launched Creative Forces to promote health and wellness among service members and veterans with PTSD, TBI, and other psychological health conditions. The initiative provides creative arts therapies at military installations throughout the country, as well as through a telehealth program for rural and remote regions.

 

But what happens after clinical treatment? Through Community Connections, Creative Forces is building networks of arts organizations in communities surrounding clinical sites, allowing patients to continue participating in the arts after treatment to ensure a successful transition back to civilian life. The networks also will provide options for service members and veterans who have not received clinical therapy, but would benefit from hands-on experiences with the arts.

 

Last year, summits were held in each clinical site community, where leadership from local military installations, representatives from the state arts agency, and local arts administrators met to discuss how best to build these clinic-to-community continuums. The summits led to the creation of 11 Community Connections projects—varying in scope—each of which speaks to the distinct needs and populations of the site’s surrounding community. Projects will receive up to $50,000 in support from the NEA and are designed to be replicable in other communities. 

 

For instance, Resounding Joy is leading the California project, in partnership with five other organizations they connected with at the summit: Combat Arts, VetArt, So Say We All, Vets’ Community Connections, and the San Diego Veterans Coalition. With support from the Intrepid Spirit Center at Camp Pendleton, as well as consultants, each organization will host a Pop-Up Community Creative Arts Café, which will be held in various locations across San Diego County.

 

The purpose of the cafés is to connect members of the general public to the area’s military community, introduce service members and veterans to a wide variety of art forms that they might connect with, and raise awareness of organizations that work with military populations, which would help prevent individuals from having to scramble for resources as many families have had to do.